Thursday, January 22, 2009

Calamansi and Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake

Recently, Cheryl, the Children’s Librarian, brought in a basketful of the most adorable citrus fruit from her aunt’s backyard! Have you ever met the CALAMANSI? Oh, you should! They are petite, perfectly round and have a sweet and sour personality.

Calamansi (or kalamansi or calamondin/kalamondin) is a hybrid of the mandarin orange and the kumquat. It is a small citrus fruit of the Philippines which plays an important role in Filipino cookery.

Aren’t these the cutest? They look like those little pumpkin candies – only these are real and have vitamin C!Fresh from the Oven made cute loaves in November and recently, Butter & Sugar made an Orange Yogurt cake. Both took inspiration from the Barefoot Contessa’s Lemon Yogurt Cake.

I made a few changes to her recipe to use the Calamansi and Meyer Lemons. Click here for Ina's recipe!

Wet ingredients, whisk together:1 c low-fat lemon yogurt from Trader Joe’s (because I didn't want to leave the house to get the whole-milk plain yogurt, which is actually hard to find - they all seem to be non-fat or low-fat. Next time, I might use Greek yogurt since I always have this around.)1 c sugar3 large eggs2 t grated citrus zest (I used 1 t calamansi and 1 t meyer lemon)1/2 t pure vanilla extract

After mixing the dry and wet ingredients together, fold in oil:1/2 c olive oil (Ina uses vegetable oil, but I thought adding some Omega-3s would be a good thing!)

Ina uses a loaf pan and bakes it for 50 minutes (350 degrees), but I used a 9" round and baked it for 40 minutes.

Syrup:1/3 c freshly squeezed juice (I had 80% calamansi and 20% meyer lemon)1/3 c sugarWhile the cake was baking, make the syrup by dissolving sugar in small pan with lemon juice. After the cake comes out of the oven, let sit for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and poke some holes in the cake with a toothpick. Pour or brush on the syrup.

Ina has a glaze of juice and powdered sugar, but I just dusted it with powdered sugar.

This cake is really delicious. It is light, very moist and wonderful for a breakfast or tea snack. As you can see by the many adaptations, you can make it any way you want. And now that there are lots of citrus around, there is no excuse for not making this!

Thanks Cheryl for introducing me to the wonderful world of calamansi citrus!

I wanted to make this cake for the longest time, but can never get over the part about folding the oil in at the last step. I wonder why we don't just whip it with the eggs and sugar.. extra batter movements stresses me out for fears of overmixing! haha

Oh my goodness! I literally saw the same cake today on Butter and Sugar and I was just thinking about all the Meyer lemons I keep buying at the farmers market. It must be a sign that I should make this too!

Boy, am I ever glad I came by here today! This cake is perfect!! I've been baking with olive oil a lot recently, and with lowfat Greek yogurt this should be wonderful. I have some Meyer lemons just begging to be used for this cake! So so pretty.Nancy

Those are adorable little orange orbs. Gee can you wear them? Your photos are beautiful. Great work and I'm so glad to learn about another citrus fruit. Thankyou. Also, thank you for stopping by and leaving kind words.AmyRuth

The cake sounds great, but I'm originally from the Philippines and calmansi isn't orange. They usually are green, so I'm not sure what those are in the picture. Here's a link (Calamansi) to what they normally look like.

Dear Belly Blabber, Thanks for visiting my blog! I asked my friend Cheryl about it and she said the calamansi she sees here in Southern California are orange, and green in the Philippines! (Her family goes back and forth a lot). I think we plant a different variety of the calamansi. I saw that the bloggers Burnt Lumpia bought a dwarf plant here and it's orange. http://burntlumpia.typepad.com/burnt_lumpia/2007/04/i_think_i_shall.htmlI don't know much about plants...but I do like the calamansi (or whatever I got!!!) :)

Yay for liking kalamansi, Mary! Those gorgeous citrus are indeed kalamansi, am not sure why but in US the skin turn orange as they ripen. Could be the cooler temps, less humidity even, just my guess. Next time you get ahold of more, try making curd and you can even make candy with the peel (recipes in my blog). I'm envious, you have a kalamansi supplier, they are hard to find in the market.

T, Lowercase "t" is teaspoon and Uppercase "T" is a tablespoon. You might want to see Ina Garten's original recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-yogurt-cake-recipe/index.html

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now! I just received a USPS Priority box full of my mom's Meyer lemons AND calamansi today. I am so glad to have found this recipe. Now I can't wait to make this recipe. Thank you Mary!